tally determined to be courtly and gracious to him for the future, the Prioress
made him appear before her: and then he requested that her pleasure be to confirm and
assure the good will they bore to one another. Then Polia, through the impatience
of Love, interrupted the discourse of her friend.

After Poliphile had finished his speech, Polia in the presence of the Prioress de-
clared to him that she was ardently seized by his love, and totally disposed to
please him: for a pledge of which she gave him a kiss: the words that the Prioress
spoke to them.

Poliphile, obeying the command of the Prioress, at the beginning of his
loves praises perseverance, and then relates how one feast day he saw Polia
in a temple, where he was seized by her love: and seeing that he could not speak to
her, he decided to write to her.

Poliphile, having no means to speak to his Lady, wrote to her to make her understand
his martyrdom.

Poliphile pursues his Story, saying that Polia took no account of his two letters:
wherefore he sent her the third, which profited as little as the others: and at the end
withdrew towards her, whom he found alone at the temple of Diana, where she was in prayer: and
in making the discourse of his languor to her, he died, then resuscitated.

The soul of Poliphile relates to him what had happened to it since the departure from his
body, and the accusations it had proposed before the Goddess Venus against
Cupid, and the cruel Polia.

Poliphile says that when his soul had finished speaking, he found himself alive in the
arms of his best-beloved Polia. And requests the Prioress that she be willing to confirm
their friendship. Then Polia puts an end to the story she had begun before the
Nymphs.

Polia, all at the same time finishing her story and the wreath of flowers, placed it
upon the head of Poliphile. Then the Nymphs who had listened to her returned to
their pastimes, taking leave of the two lovers, who remained alone, con-
versing together of their loves. Polia, embracing Poliphile tightly, disappeared
with the dream.

Poliphile brings an end to his Hypnerotomachia The Strife of Love in a Dream: complaining of the dream which was so
brief to him, and that the envious Sun made daylight too soon.

EXTRACT OF THE KING'S PRIVILEGE.

BY the grace and privilege of the King, it is permitted to Matthieu Guillemot to
print or cause to be printed, sell and distribute a Book entitled, The Table of
rich inventions: covered by the veil of amorous fictions, which are represented in the dream of
Poliphile: and prohibitions are made to all persons of whatever quality and con-
dition they may be, from printing or causing to be printed the said Book, upon pain of
confiscation of what is found printed, and of four hundred crowns fine.
Given at Paris the 10th of December 1600. And of our Reign the eleventh. By the
Council.
Signed, DE LAVETZ.

An ornamental headpiece features a central mask or grotesque face flanked by scrolling acanthus leaves, flowers, and symmetrical foliage motifs.

THE DISCOURSES OF THE DREAM OF POLIPHILE.

BOOK ONE.

CHAPTER ONE.

A decorative initial letter F within a square border, decorated with stylized foliage and floral elements.

Agrypnie is the wakefulness caused by illness or imagination.

MAKING several plans, I stirred my imagi-
nations, and turned in my bed, without rest, full of con-
tinual restlessness, which I continued for a long time, and
even until the point that the Sun had not yet enough
advanced either its four horses or its chariot to resume the
route to return over our hemisphere: It was
perhaps at the hour that once the sad Hero guided her
desired Leander, who returned from his amorous consolations,
a little before the instant that the forerunners of the day who
are around the twins come to spread that sweetness which puts to sleep those who
have stayed awake. Then, solicited by my thoughts, having near me only my dear
Agrypnie Insomnia or wakefulness who consoled me according to the pity that moved her, hear-
ing my painful sighs, I declared my anxieties to her, and she gave me advice to be patient
in my afflictions; at which, thinking me disposed, she left me alone to consume the last
minutes that I had to be awake, during which I discoursed to myself. If
love is never equal, how is it possible to love that which does not love? and
in what manner can a poor soul, fought by so many assaults, resist? con-
sidering that it is continually occupied by variable opinions. Its war being
internal and its enemies domestic and familiar. After that, there came into my
memory the miserable condition of lovers, who to please another, desire
sweetly to die: and to satisfy themselves, are content to live in
discomfort, satisfying their desire only with vain, dangerous, and painful
imaginations. I labored so much on these plans, that my spirits, tired of this frivolous thinking,
turned toward the divine object of Lady Polia (whose figure is engraved
at the bottom of my heart) and in this beautiful occupation of heart which is the effect of a
sweet life and a pleasant death, I found myself all seized by sleep and fell
asleep. O God, shall I call this vision happy, marvelous, or terrible, which is
such that in me there is no part so small that is not moved by the ardor within it? It